MANILA, March 23 (PNA) — Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Thursday said the House of Representatives will stand by its constitutional duty to hear impeachment complaints against high-ranking officials, even as President Rodrigo Duterte called for an end to any ouster moves against Vice President Leni Robredo.

In a text message sent to reporters, Alvarez said that while he respects the position of President Duterte, he said the lower chamber should still do its mandate under the Constitution.

“We respect the President, but we have to do our duty as mandated by the Constitution,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez, in a separate media interview, further cited the separation of powers in government in pushing through with the impeachment of Robredo.

This after President Duterte thumbed down the “divisive” impeachment process against Robredo, whom he said was just exercising her freedom of expression in criticizing the administration’s narcotics crackdown.

Alvarez said that he is still studying the impeachment complaint against Robredo, noting that it should be sufficient in substance to stand trial in the Senate.

Alvarez also slammed Robredo for her “shameless” and “irresponsible” act of putting the country in a bad light before the international community by sending a video message to the United Nations, where she criticised the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.